Contact fixture



Feb. 15, 1949. c. w; P. WAL'ILER CONTACT FIXTURE Filed March 29, 1945 FIG.

lNVENTO/P Y GWP. WALTER 'posts-.-l-.&'have contact elements, indicatgdgenerally at. 16-, mounted thereon. The elements is Patented Feb. 15, 1949 "GONTACT FIXTURE GharlesWi 1'. Walter, Woodhavenh N.,Y.,,assignor to. IWestern'. Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a. corporation ofNew York AppllcationiMarchi29, 1945, Serial No. 585,477

'fiiClaims. 'l-

invention relates.to-contactxfixtures; particularly for use in connecting'ertlcles intelec- 'trical: circuits.

-'In-=, the-manufacture of articles or -.-electrical units for use. inthecommunication ants, :ilhziS custema totestsuch-articles subsequenttoraroi the: manufacture thereof lands-after therarticles i:have-. been. completed; .Gertain of these-testsinclude:.connectingithe; articlesioit units electrically in circuit of a test: set to .determine whether or net: they meet withtg-iven require.- .ments the-numher oi 'su'ch. articles onunits tested inagivenplength; of; timevdependingsgneatly upon "the speedandaccunacy in which thearticlemay lieihtcluded illand removed from'the test setor eachother to. positions a given distancetapartland thenextending diagonally away from each other to given; spaced positions.

Qtherobjects andqadvantages will: bexapparent from the following.detai-ledldescription when con sidered. in. coniunction with. the accompanying drawing, wherein.

Fig. 1 is. a front elevational viewoi. the contact fixture-illustrating the. terminals of an. article in one position;

lFig. 2 isairagmentary .front, elevational. view of the contact fixture illustratin the. terminals oiantarticleat .anothernr locked position, and.

3 istaside elevational view ..oi?.the.ccntact fixture. illustrating. the terminals of the article. at the sameippsditionasillustratedt-in Fig.2..

.Referxing, "now. the. drawing,. the. contact t-fix ture includes a base-:orpaml. Till .Whichmay. serve as.;at.corsenior;a housing H-of a testing un'itor the like, in which an electrical circuit, represented by conductors. :ttand;fi54;is:disposed. The

panel: U1 is .apertured to recelvesupporting; posts it which extend into the housing ll a'ndjhave the conductors l2 and I4 respectively'secured to the innerendsthi'z'reof.v The outer ends 'of the .are s'snbstantially identical in stmcture; the only :difierenceheing that theyare reversed: .in their formation-pone being a left handzcontactelemcnt the. tether, a right hand. contact clement. gig?) creases and eventually, the both legs. of the. contacts. wilLhe engaging their respect a terminals, not only increasing the contact liorde applied to. the terminalsQhut also doubling the If the operator Each element is .formed of. a suitablereslli-ent materialwand hasan end I-'! fixed bycsolderlngwor welding i8 to-itsrespective post l5. Spiral-convolutions I9 are formed in the elements adjacent thefirst mentioned endsthereof and-extend forwardlytatheonterends of their supporting;. p.osts. From the spiral portions is; portions 20hr, the elementseextendi diagonally toward each. otherdn a-planeat right angles :to. the plane" of the center linesof thepcsts, to portions 2| ancltthen portions 2-24 extend. diagonally away from-each other; :in thesameplane toportions 2.3. Fromthe portions 23, the-.material ofthe. elements. extend diagon-al-ly towardtthe; panel in-g a plane at angles with respect to the otherplanes, andatowa-rd each other ta portions -25; after, which the materials of; the elements extendtdiagonally away from each other .tc-procide feet-holdingportions 26-. The portions. 21,..23 and Zhmayzhe defined as bends while-the portions Hand ti t-term one leg of each element the portions Storm other legs thereof. Insthe present instance, the article to be tested is aquartz-crystal unit -21 having terminals .28 disposed at spaced positions known overall idletancesapant. 'Toltest the-units 21, it is necessary that theterminalsZB be connected tov the. respec tive. conductors .tzvand M of the. testing circuit. Uponiconsideringthe function of the contact fixture, the operator may repeatedly I introduce articlesisuch asthe-unit 21 into the testing circuit by mouingothe unit. singly until-the ends-of their terminals engage the outer surface of the panel 11! t and then lower the unit. guided hytthe-panel until the terminals'engage their respective con- .tactselements 1.6. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the degree. ofhforce. existin in the contact elements onttheterminals of. the articleor unit undertest may-be varied by varyingthe position of-thetgartiole with respect to the contact elementsor the supporting posts 15. While the article isinthe position shown in Fig. 1, the. terminals will :res'tv upon the 1egs2j4 of the contact. elements ldjthis illustratingcthe minimum pressure contact .between the elements and the; terminals. .Also, if. desired the articlemayhe tilted or movedifiatzan angle.v with respect to. the. panel. so. thatthe. ten-I .mlnal'sl will .rest. ,uponboth of the. legsof each contact-element. .As-Jthe article is mo-vedfldnwiy weirdly, the combined... force of. they elements? points of contact therewith. chcoses thiszcontact force may .beincreased to a given maximum force and'the'. contact elements may ,iunction to. latch the terminalsof the article in.,.plaee.v This may be accomplished bym'oving the.- article. downwardly .until the terminals. @28 v 3 shown in Figs. 2 and 3. At this time, the terminals rest upon the spiral portions l9 and receive the added force of both legs of each of the contact elements aided by the force inherent in the spiral portions which the terminals have tended to partially unwind in passing to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In this position, there are three points of contact for each terminal, this being the maximum pressure position, as well as the latching position for the contact elements. From this position the article may be removed by an outward pull thereon.

Although specific improvements of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that they are but illustrative and that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention as defined by the appended claims. What is claimed is:

1. A contact fixture comprising a base, posts mounted at spaced positions'thereon, and resili- "ent contact elements having spiral portions disposed concentric with the posts and having their inner ends fixed thereto, their outer ends having integral portions, lying in a plane at an angle with respect to the center lines of the posts, extending diagonally toward each other to positions a given distance apart, then extending diagonally away from each other to given spaced positions,

and finally bent back toward the posts and extoward their opposing posts to positions a shorter distance apart than the said given distance to form another leg for each element, and finally extending diagonally away from each other to form feet for the last mentioned legs.

' 3. A contact fixture for electrically connecting a' unit, having terminals mounted adjacent the limits of a given overall distance with respect to each other, in an electrical circuit, the contact fixture comprising a panel of dielectric material having spaced apertures therein, supporting posts extending through the apertures in the panel and having outer and inner end portions, thelatter being connected electrically to leads of an electrical circuit, and contact springs having like ends, secured to the said outer end portions of the postsandlike portions extending diagonally toward each other to positions short of the said distance of the terminals, and then extending diagonally away fromeach th1 t0 positions greater than thesaid distance of the terminals to form a tapered opening between the contact springs, the: outer end of which is wider than the, said given distance whereby the unit may be moved laterally to move the terminals into the :opening in engagement withjthelr respective contact springs.

v 4. Acontact fixturefor electrically connecting a unit, havingterminals mounted adjacent the 'limitsof a given overall distance with respect to each other, in an electrical circuit, the contact fixture. comprising a panel of dielectric material having spaced apertures therein, supporting posts 4 extending through the apertures in the panel and having outer and inner end portions, the latter'being connected electrically to leads of an electrical circuit, and contact springs'having like ends, secured to the said outer end portions of the posts, adjacent portions wound spirally on the outer end portions, and like portions extending diagonally toward each other to positions short of the said distance of the terminals, and then extending diagonally away from each other to positions greater than the said distance of the terminals to form a tapered opening between the contact springs, the outer end of which is wider than the said given distance, whereby the unit may be moved laterally to move the terminals into the opening in engagement with their respective contact springs,

5. A contact fixture for electrically connecting a unit, having terminals mounted adjacent the limits of a given overall distance with respect to each other, in an electrical circuit, the contact fixture comprising a panel of dielectric material having spaced apertures therein, supporting posts extending through the apertures in the panel-and havin outer and'inner end portions, the latter being connected electrically to leads of an electrical circuit, and contact springs having like endssecured to the said outer end portions of -the posts, adjacent portions wound spirally on the outer end portions, and like portions extending diagonally toward each other to positions short of the said distance of the terminals, for electrical contact therewith, andthen extending diagonally away from each other to positions greater than the said distance of the terminals, the spiral portions and the adjacent diagonal portions being formed to jointly grip the terminals. 7 6. A contact fixture for electrically connecting a unit, having terminals mounted adjacent the limits of a given overall distance with respect to each other, in an electrical circuit, the contact fixture comprising a panel of dielectric material having spaced apertures therein, supporting posts extending through the apertures in the panel and having'outer and inner end portionsthe latter being connected electrically to leads or an electrical circuit, and contact springs having like ends secured to the outer portions of the posts, adja cent first portions wound spirally on the outer end portions, like second portions extending diag onally toward each other to positions short of the said distance of the terminals, third portions ex: tending diagonally away from each other topositions greater distances apart than the said dista-noes of the terminals, substantially reverse bends formed at the ends of the third portions, fourth portions extending, diagonally toward each other to positionsshort of thesaid distance oi the terminals and fifth portions extending diagonally away from each other to cooperate 'with thefirst a second pqrtionstq orm eei e iirv ks for e o h la n t termina ei eqs; 2 "11' C AR ES "W 1 i:- W LT R;

*REFEaENoEs CITED? 7 I The following rea are pfxecordin the (file Of this patent; 2 a

"" UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Number" Name a Date 1,208,217 Schade, Jr. f Dec. 12,- 191B l,485,175 Ellis *Feb.26, 1934 2,075,632 ZuckermanL' J Mar. 30, 1937 2,124,461 Challet July 19, 1938 2,316,555 Bugg Apr. 13, 1943 

